By Mike Weber
For Columbia Gorge News
THE DALLES - The Dalles High Riverhawks boys and girls swim teams participated in the Jan. 31 Madras White Buffalo Classic swimming meet, which the Riverhawk boys won.
The boys team took first place with 237 points in the 16-team event, which included 5A schools Ridgeview and Redmond. It was The Dalles’ fourth consecutive meet win. The Riverhawk girls placed seventh with 172 points.
The Madras meet was the final regular season event for the Riverhawks, guided by seventh-year Coach Shea Macnab and assistant Coach Sarah Lawrence. The Riverhawks will now practice and prepare for the district meet Feb. 13-14 at La Grande. The top finishers in that event will qualify for the state meet Feb. 20-21 at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton.
“We had lots of kids who recorded personal best finishes in their events,” said Macnab. “We also got a good read on what our lineup will look like at the upcoming district meet. Some kids swam really good and some of them swam somewhat average. That’s to be expected though this time of year because the kids just peaked with the maximum effort that they’ve had in practice.”
The 12-member Riverhawks boys squad recorded seven top five finishes, including two wins. The team was led by seniors Everest Lenardson (win, four top-fives) and Aiden Nunez (two top-fives). Juniors Rhett Loughmiller (win, three top-fives) and Sawyer Dray (three top-fives) also helped contribute to the Riverhawks’ victory.
“For some of the more experienced swimmers, they usually don’t swim as well at this time of the year, because they work so hard in practice and their bodies are just kind of broken down,” said Macnab. “Their execution in their races was really good, but their times don’t reflect that until we go through our two-week taper. It was a mixed bag at Madras, but just a great performance by the entire team.”
Lenardson won the 200 IM (2:22.02) and he combined with Loughmiller, Dray and Nunez to get second in the 400 free relay (3:49.71). Loughmiller, Dray, Lenardson and junior Creighton Clack swam to third place in the 200 free relay (1:41.42). Loughmiller recorded an individual event victory by swimming to first place in the 200 free (1:59.29). Dray swam to fourth place in the 100 free (56.27).
The nine-member Riverhawks girls had six top five finishes. They were led by juniors Kaiya Doty (three top-fives), Lillen Vaught (four top-fives), Elliot Riley (two top-fives) and senior Laura Black (two top-fives). The quartet swam to a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay (1:52.96).
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